With Praise and Worship We Come

worship

As our church is coming together to redefine the worship service to be more of a glory to God and not of man, today…today was amazing. The music starting the service was ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’, written by Sty Francis of Assisi in 1225 (794 years ago), music written 1623 and revised by William Draper in 1926. You could feel the electric presence of God in the room, the warmth, the love, the reverence. It was still there when we went to the ‘reaching out with hands of fellowship’ greeting. The sincere love of the people was evident, it bleed into the room of fellow Christians and visitors. Then when the sermon started Pastor Rob made a statement we knew to be true but probably didn’t think much about. Of all the many times we come into the church building throughout the week, whether it be for bible study, youth activities, choir activities, ladies circles, community activities and so on and so on, these are all activities to feed our own selves. We come to those activities to learn more about God or we are there to meet about other needs the church may have or other things we may need help with. But Sunday worship is about God. We are not there for us (but we are), we are there for worshiping our God and King. Its an entirely different purpose. God is always worthy of our praise and worship regardless of our circumstances and while we do that during the week, Sunday is the day set aside where we come together as a family(the church) and praise and worship Him together, sharing in the fellowship of love he bestows on us for us to bestow on each other. That love brings us peace, peace that can only come from God. John 14:27 tells us of Jesus explaining His peace – ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you….do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’

So as the last verse of All Creatures of Our God and King says, Let all things their Creator bless, and worship Him in humbleness, O praise Him, Alleluia! Praise , praise the father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit, three in one, O praise Him, Alleluia.

I don’t know if this link will work but if not go find this song on you tube and really listen to the words. There are several version, I just preferred Sovereign Grace Music, Prayers of the Saints.

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And as always, as you go through your day and encounter creatures of our God and King, remember He don’t ever make junk and all things have a love and a purpose so remember to always be kind.

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Do You Know God

Unashamed of Jesus posted Love God tonight and it so spoke to me I felt the need to re-share his words. It is so very important that if you want to love God that you understand how much he love you. He loved us first…so that we could then love him.

Enjoy Love God and take to heart the message from both writers… Unashamed of Jesus and God.

And always remember to be kind as a reflection of God’s love.

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Book of Judges and Today

Whether you believe in Christ or not the use of our dating system reflects before he existed and after he existed. The time periods before and during Genesis have no date reference in the bible itself, however, there is archaeological evidence around certain characters during that time period that is surfacing helping us piece together some of the historical information previously thought lost. What does this have to do with today, nothing much other than proving life is cyclical and man does not learn from his mistakes.

The book of Judges is estimated to have begin around 1375 BC. The very first judge was Othneil – 1367-1327 BC. The reason for the judges in the first place is the people did not obey God by intermingling with the peoples of the land that God gave to them. The very people God told the Israelites to get rid of so they they would not intermingle with them and learn their ways, thus sinning against God. The people would realize they yet again screwed up, whine and beg God for help, God would send them a judge. They would obey, get right with God and prosper until that judge died. Then they would forget and fall away from God, again following practices they should not follow. God would get fed up, turn away from them. They would get captured by these people they were supposed to have run out of the land and on and on and on. Through each successive judge the people would get right and prosper, the judge would die, the people would revert back to doing evil but as each new judge came along the people would not get fully back into compliance so they became weaker and more sinful as a whole. The judges lasted approximately 320 years with Samson being the last judge and during his time you really saw how arrogant the people had gotten including him and the “people did as they saw fit in their own eyes.”

That’s kind of where we are today, right. Yea, but if you read history from the 1800s, those philosophers said the same thing about their generation. So, were they wrong? No. It’s all cyclical or pendulum-atic. Not a real word but a favorite saying of my father’s. Each generation thinks they have the right answer and the strong leaders run the people all in one direction, then the next generation throws the pendulum in the opposite direction pulling all the people in that direction with neither side learning from the mistakes of past generations, neither relying on the grace of God to drive them and no one really going in the correct direction at all.

Today we have no prayer in school, we are killing babies out of convenience and there is no God authority in any type of government or management and very little of teaching of right and wrong even at the home level. I totally understand the separation of church and state but I also believe God needs to be the driving force. So without the teaching of right and wrong in homers, government being totally greedy in their beliefs and not have God as the head, chaos begins to break out and crazy things happen like school or theater shootings, cars running over people on crowded side walks, then down on the home level, bored kids who are not being cared for are left to run the streets to become vandals and destroy property just for fun. Last night 6-9 cars on my street were the entertainment of a few of these kids. Makes you worry about what’s next and I am in a good neighborhood.

IMG_20190313_082727 — Black spray paint. I was lucky with only a single line.

Each generation needs to do better not worse. I know that scripture says things will get worse until God has had enough but do we really want that. It makes me sad. And it is so hard to be encouraging sometimes but we must prevail. If those of us who try to always be compassionate, encouraging or kind fail and give up – that is when evil will have won, at least evil will think it would have won but those of us who are in-tuned with God know how the story ends so I remind you to pull as many as you can with you into the love and grace of God and always be kind.

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Fog Symbolizes Life

Last week Debbie Smyth of Traveling with Intent posted a picture called Trees in black and white that inspired me so I borrowed it and wrote this poem comparing the scariness of fog to the scary uncertain things of life. We can’t always see where we are going but we can always be assured that God is with us so be encouraged. In the old testament, Moses remind the people that God is always with you. Deuteronomy 31:6 says “Be strong and courageous. Do not afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.” In the new testament, Paul also reminds us of God always be there for us. Hebrews 13:5b says “because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” So rest assured knowing His love for you.

trees, Deb Smyth — Trees Shrouded in Fog

Eerie Quiet Fog

What is it about the eerie fog that mystifies us so

Moving quietly through the trees in the valley far below.

It snakes stealthy through forest engulfing each tree

Overtaking the land which once was thought free.

The coldness of winter brings a new kind of fog

Surrounding each limb and crossing each log.

Mystery overtakes them as we can no longer see

The coming together as one – quiet fog and tree.

In walking through fog, the light whisper you will hear

Is the trees reassurance, you there is nothing to fear.

If deep winter chill turns the clinging fog to ice

The crystal on limbs can make the tinkling sound nice.

But if the winds pick up shaking limbs all around,

The tinkling becomes cracking as limbs fall to the ground.

But a saving sun at last shows through, melting away the fog

Leaving only a dampness to linger around the trees and log.

The longer days of sunshine bring a warmth of hope to stay

As trees remember to wake and take in this bright new day.

The lessons we can learn when watching the fog and the tree

Remind us of God’s loving hand as he forever guides you and me.

Anita Neal

As you remember His great love for you, be a reminder to others of His love love for them. Always Be Kind.

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Kindness As A Goal

In all of my post I ask all readers to remember kindness to others. It is the easiest and most difficult thing you could do. The book of Galatians reminds us the effects of not being kind in Galatians 5:15 – “If you bite and devour each other, beware as you will destroy each other.” But then in vs 22 the list of good attributes of following the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, KINDNESS, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. And again in Colossians 3:12 -“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, KINDNESS, humility, gentleness and patience.”

All of these commands come straight from the heart – God’s heart. And it is passed down to us for us to share with others in reflecting God’s precious love.

I ran across this posting the other day, not knowing who wrote it but I wanted to share it with you to remind you no matter how small an act of kindness you share, it makes a very large mark on life.

kindness14 — Your kindness always matters

So I ask you to leave fingerprints of kindness where ever you go and help the world to smile.

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Master of …, #JusJojan

It’s a word than dons power or specialty as in “master of my house” or “jack of all trades and master of none”; then in golf there is the Masters Tournament each spring in Augusta Ga. or in biblical times and even up to current times there is the master/slave relationships of people. For today’s Jot in January we are following Linda and Sadje’s prompt of master and since it is also a Sunday my mind went only in one direction – The Master.

It is my belief that all people follow. Even those that lead, follow. They follow what they believe to be the truth according to their own priorities and these priorities are gain by things they have lived through and assessed to be the truth in their hearts and mind. And that truth is their master.

Look at all the good and bad leaders of this world we have seen thus far. They lead from their hearts and were able to convince others that his/her priorities were correct and true until someone else came along with a better idea of what they believe to be true. I think in each person’s heart, whether it be for mastering his own life or mastering the hearts of a nation, it starts with being true to what he believes as the truth and that therein is the root of the problem.

In John 18:37, Jesus explains to Pontius Pilate that he is the witness of the truth where Pilate retorted “What is truth”. Philippians 4:8 reminds us that “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on such things.”

In my opinion when you take life and boil it down to the stickiness left in the bottom of the pan there are only two defining truths and therefore two defining masters – the Masters of Good and Evil and who those Masters are. You can walk in the gray matter between the two for a while but there will be a day where a choice will need to be made. The first choice you have to make and that choice will decide your direction of choices is do you even believe there really is a Good Master and Evil Master.

My beliefs are there is definitely a Good Master and an Evil being that wants to be a master but has already lost. He is just going to take as many as he can away from the Good Master through his trickery and lying by deceiving those into believing the Good Master is not the truth. The choice is intimately up to each individual as he searches for his own truth and that which makes him happy.

Everything we do in life is a choice and my hope is that more of us choose the Good Master as he will bring to us the love, tenderness and kindness we are all so hungry for.

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Hope, Joy and Love

The fear and wonder the shepherds must have felt to see the heavens open with bright light and creatures they had only heard stories of but have never really seen. They knew from the prophets that He would come as a child from the lowly town of Bethlehem.

I wish you all the joy, wonder and love this season can bring us. A reminder of what did come and a foreshadowing of what is still to come. May you feel His love, peace and comfort and carry it with you to share with others as you go.

Have a very Merry Christmas.

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Eyes, Windows to the Soul, A Photo a Week Challenge

Matthew 6:22 – The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be filled with light.

Nothing is quite as precious as the sparkle of a child’s eyes or the giggle of their laugh. These are my children and grandchildren. Yes all boys. But they are precious.

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Nancy Merrill photo a week challenge is eyes. Come join in on the fun and enjoy each others photos.

Remember the joy of laughter of a child and carry that joy and smile with you as you go sharing that love with kindness freely. It make bring the same joy and smile to one who needs it.

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Beauty and Truth at Christmas

We have always heard that the measure of beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

rainbow — Nature has a beauty all its own

There are many forms of beauty from nature, or art, or music, or people, or animals…even in life itself.

Take for example any living thing and the ability of today’s technology to break down anything to a single cell…and the parts of that cell, the amazing beauty of creation. I have had conversations with people who don’t see this or who don’t see the reality of creation as I do. I even had one gentleman tell me he didn’t do the “G” word. I had to bite my tongue to keep my composure with someone who gets offended in saying “God”, really. How very sad. It is my opinion that God is very real and the creator of all things. It is also my opinion that He created all humans in His likeness to also be creators in the many forms we love to express and show the beauty of all creation. And I believe all of this to be a profound truth.

There is great beauty in truth. While this may be dipping into the philosophy realm a bit, truth like beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder as well because the world has muddied the waters of truth so to speak. For me, truth is perceived by each individual’s perception of what truth is to them and that is the basis on how they run their life. For me, I base all truth on God’s word. In the bible, John 37:37, Jesus said “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And Pilate asked Him “What is truth?” Clearly not on the same page as Jesus but on the side of the muddy waters.

I am not eloquent with words or a great biblical teacher but I do study the word of God and believe it to be the truth. We are now in the Christmas season, whether you believe it or not the season’s purpose is to celebrate Jesus’s birth…and our salvation from death. Because without Him we are forever doomed. He was born for a purpose – us – and he died for a purpose – us. It has always been about us, the people, the believers in God. We are God’s beautiful creation but we are not allowed to see God so he can’t come help us. So God sent us His son who can help us. He stands between us and God as a buffer. I ran across a picture of beautiful piece of art that explains the relationship between man and God so well that I felt lead to share with you here.

Truth

Jesus is kneeling in the arms of the cross while hanging onto God’s hand as He reaches down to us who are drowning. That is a truth we all can live by. We can’t get to the father without the son. And they both want us to succeed in reaching for the hand of salvation. I encourage you to celebrate the season of His love as God sent this gift to us and for us.

As you enjoy the love of the season, remember to be kind. Being kind to someone who is also being kind is easy. We need to remember to be kind to those who may not be showing kindness at that moment probably because this is also a season of deep sorrow. Reach out with a word of kindness, a hand of kindness, or maybe a gentle smile. You just may brighten someone world. I enclose my favorite smile. It makes me smile every time.

Gentle Words vs. Flaming Tongue

It’s that time of year where those who are not that fond of the holidays recognize the kindness push factor of the holidays. Even Charles Dickens wrote a story of flaming tongue vs gentle words with Ebeneezer Scrooge, with the moral of the story showing the value of kindness being much more valuable to the heart than the non-value of a flaming tongue.

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The bible has only a few sections that warn of the wicked or meanness of the tongue yet the teachings of love and kindness filter all through the scriptures in some form. Galatians 5 is an example as it list the fruits of the spirit – love, joy kindness…etc. We have to be taught how to be kind. What?? Yes we all have a mean streak that has to be tamed.

Cecilia Bacon post today speaks very much on this along line with a “cause/effect” disclaimer of biblical teachings. A lot of us in my generation(baby-boomers) were taught a principle of common decency with scriptural truths called “The Golden Rule”. I remember it being printed on the school rulers we were given. The Golden Rules states – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Do you want people being mean to you? Then cause effect of that tells us we shouldn’t be mean or others will be mean to us!! It’s how it works. Have you watched children play and how some can be selfish and down right mean. If this behavior is not checked, it grows. Seen kids in middle school as they try to learn who they are. Wow.

James chapter 3:1-12 speaks profoundly about the wickedness of the tongue. How it is like a horse unbridled running a muck or the tiny spark of fire from the tongue can burn down an entire forest. 3:10 says – Out of the same mouth come praises and curses. The tongue is a part of the body that must be tamed and we generally don’t understand it’s power or pain until we have been consumed by the fire of someone’s spark.

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Words are powerful and the actions that can go along with these words only increase their value – either good or bad.

We must learn to be kind, gentle, good, peaceful…etc. Due to situations in our life those things may not be taught to us and we may have no clue how to use the gentle side of God. But if you will just scratch the surface if the scriptures – that is what they breathe with every word. Love…for God is Love.

The quickness way to diffuse someone who is being unkind to you is to be kind to them. They don’t know what to do with it. But I promise, they will be watching you. They want what you have, they just don’t know it or know what it is.

Jesus was constantly taunted by the teachers of the Law because they didn’t understand Him. Deep down I think they knew who He was but they feared He was going to take away their life style. And that was not acceptable. But people who were hungry for His gentle nature and followed Him, learned from Him and taught others His ways. His ways are love.

So I challenge you who may not really understand kindness, gentleness, basic love and compassion to look for it. Its strong this time of year. Get infected with it. Its a sickness that can spread with the softest touch and can lighten the darkest mood. Let the light of Jesus shine through you and He will lift you from the deepest pit.

Remember that Jesus said “whoever does these small kind things to the least of these are doing it to me.” Let Jesus feel you hear you gentle words this season and feel the kindness only you can share.